The Lowdown – Solidarity

Noun: unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

Well it goes without saying that the last week and a bit has been without a doubt, a very strange and important time. I’ve found myself amid an inward turn as I navigate my way through my days and like many of you, I am managing life as we now know it, as best I can. I am by no means an elder however, I was very close to mine and they shared their perspectives with me back when I was young; Gramps often told me about The Great Depression and what life was like in those days. The lack of opportunity for young people was massive. He did what he could to make a few cents (literally) while working in an auto repair shop. It wasn’t steady but I recall him sharing how when he would be paid, the money went home to mom and dad. His father managed those days via work with the railway; many in the North End of Winnipeg held jobs at the Weston Shops. My grandmother, from dad’s side would often share her side of it all. She recalled how my dad’s dad fished Lake Winnipeg and she made pies that she sold when they lived in Winnipegosis amongst other odd jobs, just to keep the pennies rolling in. Their lives we’re built in that challenge and interestingly, they were born during a time where the First World War and the Spanish Flu made a historic mark on the planet. And then their generation watched as the world went to war yet again. My grandmother worked while Wally (my dad’s dad) went off to war; she would speak of what it felt like to not know much of anything that was happening outside of what the paper printed and what the radio shared over the airways.

Life today is far different, news travels in light speed. People are getting information from every direction; the overload is real, unlike everything we read. As that info comes in, we all process it in our own way. I’ve written about this in the past, it’s our perspectives that have been built over time that drive our reactions. And while I’ve read through various social media streams and managed my own trigger points, I admit that I too have found myself recalling past community experiences in my life that have built my perspective. A big one was The Flood of the Century in Manitoba in 1997. That was a serious matter that impacted many. The military was called, the sandbagging never ended, meanwhile the stores had stock issues on items like water pumps. I recall the first time I saw the flood water and I don’t mean how the Red River was literally at the top of the dykes. I mean the water, at Grande Pointe. It was as far as you could possibly see to the south of the city of Winnipeg. I remember it was in that moment that it hit me; we were in huge trouble. Previous to that, I remember noting that there were massive piles of Earth placed next to the overpasses on the south perimeter highway, it was that day that a man who was running an Earth moving machine told me, “that Earth will be pushed under the over pass if the dykes fail.

I couldn’t believe what I was being told.

I remember working at that location for some time. It was different then, there was no call for PPE (personal protective equipment). It is well known that the Red is a filthy river, that flood and the estimated thousands of expired animals now in it, made the situation even worse. I recall my hands from the sandbags, raw with the skin above my nails worn away. The impact of that disaster really hit home while I was with a crew of volunteers in a boat that I’ve long forgotten the name of, but they were property of the Coast Guard. They were flat, wide boats with a wheelhouse in about the middle. Something like what you’d see in vintage footage of soldiers landing on the beaches of Normandy, just without walls. We would load the boats with sandbags and the goal was to transport them to those who’d built massive walls around their homes that were located beyond the protection of Winnipeg’s Floodway. I recall us moving along slowly as to not create any sort of wake and realizing suddenly, with all the others on board that we had a real problem ahead. The water was so high we passed over a sunken car, it was then a volunteer shouted, “wires ahead!”.

The water was so high, that the boat couldn’t pass under power lines. We were in an all aluminum vessel and that wheelhouse was now our most serious issue.

We all looked at one another. There were only two choices. Turn back or hold the wire up. The elders on board chose to use oars and held that wire while the boat passed under. I can feel the fear and intensity now as I share with you all.

Those were tough times for sure. I remember just after this moment we passed homes where their dykes failed, and the water smashed its way through the walls of the houses the dyke protected moments before. Homeowners sat on their roofs awaiting rescue as they’d just lost their fight and the water over came them.

Upon returning to shore that day something very incredible took place. From up the hill came a convoy of vehicles. Not government, nothing special. Just a train of trucks. They came to a stop nearby and out of each vehicle were families from the nearby Hutterite Colony; tables were promptly erected, and large pots of soup and chili were placed next to the most incredible buns I’ve ever eaten. We all stopped; people hugged. Some cried, we were hungry and on that day we ate well.

It was experiences like this that taught me what people are made of. The good people are all around us, you are one of them and the good is in all walks of life. We as humans are the most resilient of all animals and in that, we will get through what we face today like the generations of people who we all come from.

Taking care of yourself now is taking care of your community.

Thanks again for reading The Lowdown, you can read this, and archived columns are timlowing.com.